


Finding Safety

by Carerra_os



Series: Harringrove Tumblr Stories [51]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington Has Nightmares, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27412567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carerra_os/pseuds/Carerra_os
Summary: Steve has a nightmare that make him wander around and Billy goes and collects him, reassuring him that everything is alright.-Billy picks a middle point, the quarry to park at, follows the train track back toward Dustin’s house before doubling back toward the creepy little unsanctioned junkyard when he does not find him anywhere around there. The temperature is dropping and Billy shivers, he hopes Steve remembered a jacket, really hopes he finds him in the junkyard and does not have to make the trek to the labs or head out to the Byer’s. Billy breathes out a visible sigh of relief when he spots Steve sitting in the shadow of the old rusted out bus, bat propped on his shoulder, head turned up toward the moon.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: Harringrove Tumblr Stories [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673560
Comments: 2
Kudos: 85





	Finding Safety

**Author's Note:**

> 136 “You had a nightmare, tell me what it was about so I can fix it.”

**Finding Safety**

Billy has not been dating Steve for too long, after that night in November, after Billy saw the thing in the fridge, things changed. Billy apologized and got a long widened still very hard to believe explanation from the kids. Steve had looked like shit, because of Billy and because the horrors that had been haunting him since before Billy came to town had reared their ugly heads again. 

Billy caught Steve out on the front porch smoking a cigarette and offered him a ride home, his way of apologizing. Steve had given a shrug and told him not to worry about it. Billy had gone back inside only to bully him into the passenger seat of the Camaro twenty minutes later, yelling at the kids to shut the fuck up as he drove them home. Steve did not talk, held the little makeshift ice pack to his face and stared blankly out the window as Billy dropped all of the kids off first, Max included. 

Steve did not get out of the car, stared up at his big empty house as Billy watched him. “This is your stop pretty boy, get out.” Billy gruffed, watching as Steve’s shoulders hunch, and his fingers pull at the door handle before making a decision. Billy killed the engine, and got out of the car, jogging to catch up with Steve in the doorway and follows him inside instead of leaving, Billy sort of never leaves after that.

-

Neil has been on his ass for days, and Billy has not had much time away, but Neil left late this evening for a job interview out of town and is expected to be gone for the weekend. Billy really hopes he gets the job driving a truck cross country, meaning less time he will be around, less Billy has to worry about leaving him alone with Max and Susan both of whom have stopped turning a blind eye. 

Steve’s car is in the driveway, but he is not in the house when Billy slips in using the spare key, his bat covered in nails is gone and the sliding glass door is unlocked, Billy will bet anything Steve is out wandering the forest. He would be suspicious of the upside down but Max has not been acting any weirder than usual. Billy gets back in his car and starts driving around, he knows all of the places Steve usually hits when he cannot sleep and the worries take over, has gone out and tracked him down more often than not.

Billy picks a middle point, the quarry to park at, follows the train track back toward Dustin’s house before doubling back toward the creepy little unsanctioned junkyard when he does not find him anywhere around there. The temperature is dropping and Billy shivers, he hopes Steve remembered a jacket, really hopes he finds him in the junkyard and does not have to make the trek to the labs or head out to the Byer’s. Billy breathes out a visible sigh of relief when he spots Steve sitting in the shadow of the old rusted out bus, bat propped on his shoulder, head turned up toward the moon. 

“Hey pretty boy.” Billy calls trying not to startle Steve, he still gives a noticeable jump.

“Billy?” Steve's voice is low, quiet the way it always is when he gets like this, nearly worried Billy to death the first few times. Steve gets scared in a way Billy never has, Billy gets angry and mean mouthed, Steve goes quiet, tries to make himself smaller and hide even when he feels the need to keep lookout, to protect. 

Billy is glad to see Steve is wearing a jacket at least, even if it is a thin one, not really meant for winter, it is better than nothing. Billy squats down in front of Steve, the light from the moon enough to see the bags under Steve’s eyes even in the shadow. “Couldn’t sleep?” Billy reaches out, brushes his hand against Steve’s cheek and hates how much colder he feels even to Billy’s icy hands.

“Nightmares again.” Steve leans into Billy’s touch, resting his cheek in Billy’s hold, lets Billy pull him from sitting with his other hand.

“ **You had a nightmare, tell me about it so I can fix it** .” Billy says earnestly, as he pulls Steve to standing. Steve’s hand tightening on the bat he is holding, but after a long minute, and Billy’s gentle fingers stroking his, Steve loosens his hold, lets Billy take it.

“You know there’s nothing you can do.” Steve says, and Billy knows it was about the upside down, about the demogorgon and the demodogs. Billy may have only seen the corpse of one dead demodog but it was enough to make him know the tale the kids told him was real and to believe that Steve has seen worse things than that. Steve has a tendency to gloss over the horrors of it, but Dustin runs his mouth freely now that Billy knows, a little bribery goes a long way with that kid. 

“Tell me about it anyway, won’t make it worse.” Billy insists sliding an arm around Steve’s shoulder, bat propped at the ready to keep Steve calm, to reassure Steve that Billy will not let anything near him. 

“Was the tunnels.” Steve whispers as Billy starts walking them back toward his car. Steve bends and twists his face against Billy’s shoulder for a minute before going back to keeping his eyes on their surroundings.

“They’re all gone.” Billy reminds, just like he always does, there have not been any signs, and Hopper goes and checks the old lab on occasion just to be sure.

“I know.” Steve's voice is small and miserable, and Billy gets it, knowing the danger is gone does not just magically erase it from your mind.

“Come on tell me about why, why did it drive you out here?” Billy asks, different things in Steve’s dreams make Steve wander different places. When he goes to the Byers house Billy knows he either dreamed about their fight or the demogorgon. Logically dreaming about the tunnels means Steve should have been heading for the farm.

“I just wanted to check on the kids, went by their houses, just made sure all was quiet, needed a break before checking on you and Max.” Steve whispers, and Billy does not like how long he must have been walking around in the cold before getting tired, he probably has not eaten either, he has a bad habit of forgetting to eat, Billy started reminding him as soon as he noticed him not eating. “It’s the same as it always is, the hole is gone and we can’t get out and then- then-” Steve’s voice breaks off, tears welling in his eyes and Billy stops them, pulls him in wrapping both arms around him.

“Shush, it’s alright pretty boy, how about we stop off at the diner, we can sneak Max a milkshake when we check on her.” Billy says softly, as Steve tries to collect himself, arms curling around him clutching a bit too tight for his aching ribs, but he is not about to let go or push him away. “Everything is alright, you protected them, got them out of there.” Billy reminds, had only seen the hole in the light of day, had gone poking around. He had not gotten very far before he was being tossed past the perimeter by the government. He cannot really comprehend what all went down there, but what little dying bits he had seen had definitely been nightmare full, Billy has woken in his own cold sweat a few times because of it. 

Billy gentles Steve toward the car as his sniffles start drying up. Steve tries to clings as Billy pushes him into the passenger seat, it takes Billy a few minutes to untangle the white knuckled grip Steve gets in his shirt, petting softly at Steve's hair until he finally relents, relaxing long enough for Billy to dart around the side of the car. Billy curses as he starts the car and cold air kicks out, turning the knob for heat as high as it will go, wanting Steve warm. 

Billy pulls an old woolen blanket from the backseat, one he took from Steve’s house after the fourth time he went out and tracked Steve down. Billy always finds him far too cold for his liking. Steve gets with the program as soon as Billy brushes his legs with the folded blanket, taking it and spreading it out, hands going to the air vent when warm air starts pumping out of it. Billy drops a hand to Steve's knee and heads for the diner.

There are a lot of people at the dinner for a Thursday night, but they find a spot at the counter. Billy stretches his legs out until his knee is pressed against Steve's thigh. Steve always does better with some physical contact, and Billy will not deny him, likes touching Steve whenever he can but in public this is the best that he can do. 

Billy orders for the both of them while Steve folds up some discarded straw wrapper left behind by a previous customer, adds a milkshake and a piece of pie for Max and Susan. They sit in silence, Billy taping his foot against the bar under the stool, he wants to drop a hand on Steve's knee or against the back of his neck and pull him closer but he will not risk it at the counter. 

It does not take too long and Billy dumps a few crumpled bills on the counter while Steve is still struggling to pull his wallet out. Billy hooks an arm around his neck, a seemingly playful gesture, when really Billy just wants to keep him close as he pulls him from the dinner. Steve takes the tray full of two milkshakes and a coke before Billy can accidentally dump them on him.

Susan is still up when they get there, and despite it being close to Max's bedtime she does not say anything, just smiles at them when Billy drops a container of pie in front of her. Susan likes Steve, had told Billy once she thought he was a good influence on him and promptly reminded him to never let Neil anywhere near him, not a reminder Billy ever needs.

Max is in bed on top of her covers reading a comic when they come in. Her face contorts and Billy knows she is about to bitch at him until her eyes land on Steve. Instead she scoots over patting the bed next to her as Steve toes his shoes off and climbs next to her. Billy rolls his eyes as Max makes grabby hands at the milkshake, handing it over when Steve gives a little laugh.

Billy sits on the edge of the bed and unlaces his boots a little so he can pull them off. Billy scoots closer to the center and sits cross legged on the end when he is free of them, pulling out the containers so they can eat. Billy smiles pleased when Steve's socked feet make their way under his thigh.

"Eat up pretty boy." Billy puts Steve's container in his lap, tossing several ketchup packets at him, most of which he does not catch.

Max steals a fry from Steve's pile, sticking her tongue out at Billy when he frowns at her. But she gets it shifting until she can  _ steal _ them from Billy instead as her walkie talkie on the nightstand cracks to life.

Dustin's voice shouts into the walkie, quickly followed by responses from the rest of the boys, he is looking for Steve. "He isn't answering!" Dustin whines walkie talkie edict forgotten.

Max scoops the walkie off of her nightstand chiming in with a smug smile "He's over here!" Billy snorts as Steve bites his lip on a smile as Dustin starts bitching over the walkie.

"Why are you over there?" He finally whines as his fit wavers sounding utterly betrayed that Steve would choose to spend his evening with Billy and Max instead of him. "My mom made that casserole thing you like, she would have loved having you over." Dustin's tone is all kicked puppy.

Billy has seen the way Mrs. Henderson fawns over Steve, always like the son away at college who she has not seen since school started, even though she sees him multiple times a week. Always thrusting hand knitted things and home cooked meals at him. Billy has lost track of how many matching sweaters Dustin and Steve have.

"Sorry buddy, wasn't really thinking." Steve does sound apologetic, probably would have just gone over to Dustin's if he had not had that nightmare. Billy has seen his car outside of the Henderson's plenty, usually he just keeps heading to Steve’s house to wait for him on those nights. Likes them better, it means Steve is not wandering around fearing danger.

Max slurps on her milkshake near empty, making it screech loudly into the walkie talkie when she grabs it back. "They brought me a strawberry milkshake!"

"Steven!" Dustin hisses and Steve dissolves into laughter leaning against Max's side. Billy just smiles pleased, hand going to Steve's ankle as he finishes his own food, thumb pressing under the hem of his jeans caressing the skin of his ankle.

They do not leave until Steve has nearly eaten his entire burger and a hand full of fries, still sucking on his milkshake as they head out the door. Billy would prefer he ate all of it but it is more than he can usually get Steve to eat in one sitting, he usually eats more when he is distracted taking gentle prompting without a second thought. Billy bundles Steve up in his leather jacket on the way, grabbing his jean jacket from his closet. Not as warm but it will do until they get back to Steve's house.

Billy does not turn the heat up as high as before but Steve still pulls the blanket over his lap, arms tucked into the pocket of Billy's jacket. Billy can hear the little click-click as Steve thumbs at the cap of his lighter before he turns the music up some, finds it annoying when Steve does that stuff but he is also aware that it helps keep him calm and never gives him shit for it. Billy backs out of the driveway before dropping his hand on Steve's knee again, always has it there when he is driving. 

They are barely halfway down the street when Steve shifts a little lower in the seat. Billy looks over to see Steve's head lolling against the glass, window more than cold enough to start fogging up from his breath as his mouth hangs partially open. It should not be cute, should not set adoration in Billy's gut but it does as a little snores leaves Steve and Billy does not even care if he drools because he knows it means Steve feels safe.

Steve does not wake when they get back to his house, sleeps through the engine cutting off and the radio fading. Sleeps through Billy's door opening and closing and then his own, his limp body half falls out but Billy is quick to catch him, Steve's face falling against his shoulder and Billy knows there is going to be a trail of drool left behind.

Billy just feels utterly pleased by it all as he scoops Steve up into his arms, heading for the back door, Steve always leaves it unlocked when he goes out for his walks and it will be easier than digging out the spare. Billy is just touched that Steve trusts him so much now to fall asleep in his car and then stay asleep, that Steve feels safe around him even after the shit Billy pulled back in November. Billy will not break that trust, will be here when he wakes up, will make sure he knows he can keep trusting Billy to watch over him.

-End

**Author's Note:**

> https://ghostofjellyfishforgotten.tumblr.com/


End file.
